`Chemical Castration' Bill

Moves Through Committee

March 2, 1994|By JOHN KENNEDY Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE — A softened bill to allow "chemical castration" of two-time rapists - and execution for third convictions - sailed through a Senate panel on Tuesday following emotional testimony from the mother of a rape victim.

The Criminal Justice Committee voted 6-2 to approve the bill (CS/SB 1984) by Sen. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton. The proposal has drawn national media attention but was getting its first legislative hearing.

The measure calls for using a drug to reduce the sex drive of recipients - hence the description "chemical castration."

Supporting the measure was Carol Tutwiler of the West Palm Beach area, whose daughter was raped in 1988 and still receives counseling for emotional problems caused by the attack.

"This man sent us down the road to hell and back," Tutwiler said. "The effects of violent rape reached into the very core of my family and it hasn't gone away."

But representatives of the National Organization for Women and the American Civil Liberties Union argued against the proposal.

They said chemical castration should only be offered to sex offenders who volunteer for such treatment. And fear of chemical castration would not deter rapists, they argued.

"We're not an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth country," said Charlene Carres, ACLU lobbyist. "We choose other ways to deal with that [offender)."

Until Tuesday, Wexler's measure required chemical castration for second-offense rapists, and the death penalty for a third offense. But Wexler softened those provisions on Tuesday, making the sentences optional.

The drug that would be used is Depo-Provera, a compound that reduces the production of testosterone. The chemical would diminish violent, deviant sexual behavior, proponents said. Offenders also would face prison terms and receive counseling.

"It works. It's not cruel. It's not unusual," Wexler said. "It's being done in countries that are very civilized and advanced."

In Denmark, where Wexler said such treatment has been used for years, only 2 percent of 900 chemically castrated offenders were re-arrested for sex crimes, according to medical and legal studies.

More than 50 sex-offender clinics in the United States also employ voluntary chemical castration, Wexler said.

The measure - which has 15 Senate sponsors - has one more committee stop before it is heard by the full Senate, likely within the next two weeks. The House is not expected to act until the Senate votes.

Wexler was featured last week on the prime-time television news show Dateline NBC. But the Boca Raton Democrat said he's not just trying to get attention with the measure, as some critics say.

Wexler told the committee that sex offenders make up about 10 percent of Florida's 54,000-inmate prison population.